laughing traveler

This Christmas season I did a lot more to force the Christmas spirit. During Halloween some friends and I stumbled upon our greatest discovery in China! Sunggong warehouse! All the factory leftovers from the products sent to the US. I felt like I am in Wal-Mart’s holiday section, just dirtier, cheaper and a lot more crap to sift through. We came back to this gold mine around thanksgiving and it was a CHRISTMAS EXPLOSION! I am talking a full street with trees and garland covering each store front. And 2 of the buildings had 4 floors of Christmas goodness inside, mixed, of course, with the usual baby clothes, purses, plastic ware and other randomness. I couldn’t keep my legs still. They had a 10 foot plastic tree that I could comfortably live inside! Life-size Santa figures made out of glitter and gold paint (China version). As I spent every penny in my purse on lights and a wreath, I realized my apartment was too small for a tree. Since my classes are much smaller this year I can do ...

People ask me all the time why I love China. My answers never seems to be what is expected. It’s the little things that make me smile no matter how awful my day has been or the bad mood I am in. (and believe me there have been plenty of those days) My honest to God favorite part of my new town of lain tang is the crosswalk man. In China people are too detail oriented to be satisfied with the standard walk/ don’t walk flashing light. In lian tang the little man is animated and he tells you how fast you need to walk. The best is the strut setting. The little crosswalk light has the proud strut that I can’t see without standing a little taller. Everytime me and my friend see it we try to walk at the same pace as the light and say, “strut carefully!” Then when the traffic light is about to change the little man gets faster and faster and end in a panic furry to get across. The panic is justified! I literally almost got hit by a bus the other day. I was with my Italian friend and the littl...